Queen of My Heart
by smoke and fumes
Summary: Poker! James Potter is one Queen of Hearts short of his royal flush: that is, until he looks up and spots a perfect replacement in front of him. Oneshot, LJ, obvious fluff.


**QUEEN OF MY HEART**

Poker! James Potter is one Queen of Hearts short of his royal flush: that is, until he looks up and spots a perfect replacement in front of him. Oneshot, LJ, obvious fluff.

**Hello, person-sitting-behind-computer-screen! This is an automated disclaimer stating that the author of this story is indeed J.K. Rowling.**

**Ah, blast it, you saw through my trick.**

**Anyway, HA I'M BACK FAST WITH A NEW ONESHOT! Oneshots are cool. Oneshots are clever. Oneshots are LilyJames, JamesLily, LJ, JPLE, whatever acronym. Just read and review, alright.**

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James Potter never liked Muggle Poker.

Granted, it gave him a good reason to stare at Lily Evans as she chewed her lip, blinked her green eyes at his stunning moves, and attempted to outwit him with various combinations of cards. Admittedly, this even gave James a non-perverse reason to observe her on a secondly basis. Just yesterday he had nearly got thrown out of Charms because Flitwick felt he wasn't paying much attention to whatever Charm thing that the class was attempting to do. He grimaced slightly at the memory. Obviously Lilyflower was better to look at, then the sight of Flitwick flicking his wand round enthusiastically!

For one thing, she kept beating him at it. Poker, that was. His thoughts were now swirling in a rather confusing muddle, but, it was not really his fault, James decided. After all, he had never even touched Poker cards prior to this, and to make matters worse, Lily Evans seemed to be messing with his mind, making it _even harder_ for him to play all the appropriate cards! Well, whatever. He considered himself a clever little boy for being able to get thus far!

Clever little boy! He thought happily, giving himself an imaginary pat on the back.

In that instant he caught Lily looking at him strangely, no doubt attracted at last by his ruggedly handsome features. Giving her what he hoped was a suave grin, James growled, "Yo, babe?"

From what he saw Lily seemed to be biting back a laugh, "James. Was it me, or were you talking to yourself and patting yourself on your back a few minutes ago? Something along the lines of, say, 'Clever little boy'?"

Shit! James realized what she was talking about and shot her another smooth smile. Okay. Deep breaths. Take this calmly. Coolly. "Was it her," James stared around at his Marauder pals, "or was I talking to myself and patting myself on my back a few minutes ago?"

"Prongs, pal, it wasn't her."

It took James nearly a minute to figure out what Padfoot was saying, due to the aforementioned confusion in his mind, but when he finally did, it was not without a growl and a swipe at his best friend. Some pals he had! If Sirius were crushing, say, Alice Brown, James would undoubtedly go to any lengths to help his friend, rather than sit by and snigger as his prat of a friend was doing, right now.

Scowling, James watched as Sirius put forward his set of "Full House" cards, and groaned inwardly. How was he going to beat that? For a while James racked his head to think of any potentially disastrous combination that could actually bit a full house one, as Wormtail made small whiny noises beside him. It was for the sake of his pride that he had to beat Sirius in this game, although they certainly weren't betting any Galleons on this game. The shame he suffered, especially in the presence of Lily Evans—oh, the poetic injustice of the situation! Frankly, James had no idea what poetic injustice meant, it was just a singular phrase running through his head at that particular moment.

When it was his turn, James looked wildly among his cards for a Royal Flush set. He needed to win the game and get the smug smirk of Sirius's features! Also to show Lily Evans—who was now curiously staring at him with the barest hint of a smile on her countenance—a bit of his male _winning_ bravado.

He had a 10, a Jack, a King, and an Ace already …

Damn it, he was missing a Queen!

"_Sirius_-ly, James, mate. I'm going to win this game, no?"

Across the room Moony called out irritably from his pile of Transfiguration notes, "_Sirius_-ly, Sirius, that joke ceased being funny ever since you used it, like, ten times a day."

On his part, James settled for a childish pout in response to both of their remarks, at the same time trying to get Lily to notice his young, innocent, childish, happy side. His lips were still caught in that ridiculous pattern when a sudden brainwave struck him. With a sudden "WHOOOOOOO!" he hopped up, and added, "I got it!"

Carefully he grabbed out the 4 of his cards (the 10, J, K and A), laying them out on the table with a neatness that was usually absent from all his works and appearance. And then, abruptly, he rushed towards Lily Evans and picked her up in one quick scoop!

"Oh for goodness sake, Potter, _what are you doing_? Put me down! NOW!"

The noisy buzz in the Gryffindor common room softened to a hush as the Gryffindors watched the Head Boy prance crazily around, almost dancing, the Head Girl in his arms. Several girls seethed while others floated into personal daydreams, imagining a similar plight in which _they_ were the ones James Potter seemed to be lifting with no effort at all. Even Moony freed himself from his study notes to watch this rather unusual spectacle: Lily, her face quite as red as her hair, and James, flushed, somewhat triumphant.

"James, PUT ME DOWN!" Lily carried out a half-hearted attempt to get James to _stop whatever he was doing_, right now.

As usual, he ignored her. A devilish spark was dancing its own way through James's hazel eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" he yelled, happily, deliriously, to her previous question, and oblivious to her most recent, scathing remark. "I'm missing a Queen for my Royal Flush, and well, you're replacing it!"

At this he plonked her down onto the table, beside his cards, for dramatic effect.

Sirius was staring, open-mouthed, at the situation, with no other words for it except a single utterance of "Cheat!"

Now it was James's turn for The Smug Look. "Ah, Padfoot, mate, why can't I use her as a card? She is after all, the Queen of my heart. Oh hey, was that a rhyme? I sure talk cool from time to time!"

It was a speech that James occasionally rehearsed to himself, alone in the middle of the night, hoping to sound at least a _bit_ witty should he ever recite it to Evans, the Marauders, or even the whole common room. This time, it seemed that all three were his audience, the idea having hit him right in the middle of a Poker game. In that instant the Gryffindors erupted into a screamfest of applause and wolf whistles (mostly from the male population, while the girls swooned appreciatively and accordingly). Meanwhile, Sirius seemed to have gotten over his initial shock and was once more being a supportive friend, thumping James repeatedly on the back, and trying to hold back his own laughter.

Lily, however, seemed to be quite in a daze; James approached her warily, all too aware of her sudden bursts of fiery temper.

"Lilyflower?" he tried.

It was akin to dumping a cold pail of water on her head; Lily sat up straight at once and blinked. "Uh, yes, James?"

"Well, love, I hope you don't mind what I did," the babble began. "But you see, I really meant what I said, and everything about you really being Queen of my heart, or something. Yeah, I know it's corny. Damn."

Hang on, was it his imagination, or did she just call him—

"James." The harsh look in her eyes seemed to soften, and James's heart literally swelled in his chest, reverberating against his ribcage in a cacophony of a heartbeat. Since when had she considered him to be someone she could call on a first name basis? This statement, running through his mind repeatedly, worsened his already pummeling heartbeat, and James nearly wondered when he would die of overdose of blood pumping, or something along those lines. Being caught in that situation, he had no choice but to do what was the only thing deemed possible:

Quickly he went up to her, ignoring the fact that she was about to open her mouth to say something, and kissed her.

She didn't resist.

It was practically a replay of James's midnight fantasies: Lily Evans, Head Girl of Hogwarts, the Queen of his heart, and the future Mrs Potter, was snogging the hell out of him.

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**Awwh, okay. Too fluffy, maybe, but I'm desperate for some fluff right now to keep my mind off depressing issues such as Holiday Homework and Its True Tyranny. For now, you can just review and make me happier, yay. Hugs.  
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